House approves funds for racehorse drug-testing

Bill advances to Senate

SANTA FE - The state House of Representatives voted 64-0 Monday for a bill to increase drug-testing of racehorses at New Mexico tracks.

Another $700,000 a year would be budgeted for testing. The state Racing Commission says it be money well spent to improve honesty in a high-profile industry.

Most of New Mexico's five tracks came under heavy criticism last year in a New York Times exposŽ about safety problems and illegal drugs in the horse-racing industry.

Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, sponsor of the testing bill, said the state need not receive such national attention again. Ezzell, R-Roswell, said more testing would help clean up the horseracing industry.

Money allocated for the program would go for pre- and post-race testing, out-of-competition testing and necropsies of fallen horses.

The Racing Commission itself pushed for the bill.

Vince Mares, executive director of the commission, told legislators last fall that horse tracks were among the state's biggest drug dens.

"New Mexico has a drug problem," he said. "I've identified people who have doped horses and caused the deaths of horses."

Rep. Antonio Maestas, D-Albuquerque, said horseracing is a majestic sport and the legislation is necessary to save it.

The New York Times last March found that five of the seven U.S. tracks with the highest rates of horse breakdowns and deaths were in New Mexico. Ruidoso Downs had the worst record of all from 2009 to 2011, at 13.9 incidents.

The method of compiling those statistics brought criticism from Mares and others in New Mexico.

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Still, Mares said the Times' investigation was valuable in that it alerted state residents to the industry's problems.

Currently, the Racing Commission has 18 employees and an annual budget of $1.98 million.

By the commission's estimate, the horseracing industry is worth $175 million a year to New Mexico's economy.